NORTHEAST HOUSTON The 25th Annual Intercontinental Airport Festival drew hundreds of air fans and their families, despite heavy rain during part of the day. The event was held last Saturday, June 16th, at Hangar E and the adjacent apron at the airport.
Displays of aircraft, food, drink, entertainments, exhibits, live bands, a zoo mobile, childrens games, airport Rangers on horseback, search dogs, and much more kept the large crowd entertained, and the spacious hangar kept the rain off.
The event is sponsored by the Houston Airport System, and the Chambers of Commerce of Houston Northwest, North Houston-Greenspoint, and Humble Area.
Many local organizations had booths with exhibits, including the Lone Star Flight Museum, Houston Police Department, Houston Fire Department, Houston Zoo, Continental Airlines, the three Chambers, North Harris College, Metro, and many more.
Airplanes on exhibit, and open to the public, included an Apache helicopter, Life Flight, a FedEx A300 Airbus freighter, three jet fighters, and others.
Other highlights of the Festival included Miss Teen Texas, Michelle Jones of Spring; Alabama-Couchatta youth dancers; vocalists from Klein high school; and the Dekaney Diamonds Drill Team from Spring. Many door prizes were awarded, including free airfare from Continental. The Festival opened with a ceremony presented by the Girl Scouts from the San Jacinto Council.
The Festival was from 12 to 4 on Saturday afternoon. Door prizes were awarded at the end of the day, as Seth Sharr, Steve Hrncir, and Barbara Thomason of the Houston Northwest Chamber pulled the winning tickets for the many prizes.
The theme of the Festival was IAH- Houstons Silver Lining a reference to the 25 years since the Airport Festival began, in 1982. The airport itself opened for the first flight in 1969.
Celebrating the airports contributions to the local economy, the Airport Appreciation Day Festival is highly attended by airport and airline employees and their families, as well as the public. Funds raised by the airport festival provide scholarship monies for areas students.